How a 2,500-square-foot park divided a neighborhood along ethnic lines

Jamison Moon, of the Korean American Association, said the revamped park would better showcase the space's memorials

A block-long sliver of park dotted with benches and planters in East Flushing, Queens, had for years gone virtually unnoticed. Now a proposal to expand Leonard Square by closing off a stretch of Roosevelt Avenue has divided the community along ethnic lines.

The plan, advanced by the Korean American Association of Queens, New York, seems innocuous enough: Triple the 2,500-square-foot site and remove as many as 17 coveted parking spots across from the McGoldrick Library. The result would be a small pedestrian plaza inspired by the ones that have transformed many of the streetscapes around the city.

“We just want to beautify the area,” said Jamison Moon, the Korean American Association’s executive director, somewhat defensively. He envisions the space as a bona fide community hub, “a relaxing spot” for residents and commuters alike “to come to drink their coffee in the fresh open air.”

Buck Ennis

The plaque for Corporal William A. Leonard, the World War I soldier for whom the park is named

But the idea of taking away parking—in a sprawling borough where cars remain essential and parking is scarce, and replacing it with open space—drew an immediate backlash.

“For people to suggest that people would sit there next to Northern Boulevard, one of the area’s busiest roads, breathing in the fumes and having children play ball, is ridiculous,” said Joseph Brostek, a retiree who has lived in the area for more than 50 years.

Robert Hanophy Jr., president of the 400-member Broadway-Flushing Homeowners Association, is among a growing number of residents and associations vowing to block the plan. “This is Flushing, not Manhattan,” he said. “Most people drive to the library.”

Parking and plazas aside, the proposal has tapped into anxiety over the ethnic changes in the neighborhood, where Asians now make up 59% of the population, led by Chinese, who account for 61% of that, and Koreans, who number 20%. Whites and Hispanics constitute the remainder, according to the latest census data.

Rhea O’Gorman, president of the Station Road Civic Association, which represents 800 homeowners, was among many who were particularly vexed by an August Korea Times article that suggested the revamped space would be renamed Korea Town Square Plaza, a change that the Korean American Association said it had entertained until it learned that the city names these types of sites.

“If this had been handled better from the beginning and there had been outreach to the entire community, it would not be an ethnic issue, but, in part, it’s become one,” O’Gorman said.

Focal points

LOCATION The triangular park extends from 155th to 156th streets between Northern Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue

ORIGINS Named after Cpl. William A. Leonard, a Flushing native and former city editor of the Flushing Daily Times, who died in World War I before he turned 30

DEDICATED The city acquired the site in 1929 and rededicated the park with the American Legion in 1934

FOR AND AGAINST State Sen. Toby Stavisky and Councilmen Peter Koo and Paul Vallone expressed support for the plan. State Sen. Tony Avella called closing an entrance to Roosevelt Avenue “insanity,” despite the traffic studies

Rumors swirl

Moon, of the Korean American Association, has even had to go so far as to deny rumors that his group intended to strip the park of its American flag. He noted that the enhanced park would better showcase the space’s memorial plaques, including the one for the slain World War I soldier for whom it is named, and those that pay tribute to an off-duty police officer shot in a 1987 robbery as well as victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Despite its name, the park is a triangle extending from 155th to 156th streets. Six-lane Northern Boulevard and a narrow, one-way stretch of Roosevelt Avenue sandwich it. Two daylong test closings of the avenue in recent months stoked opposition, though they did not cause vehicular gridlock.

At this point, plan backer Christine Colligan, the president of the Murray Hill Queens Residents Association as well as the Korean American Parents Association, sees other factors lurking behind the arguments made publicly by some opponents. “If they didn’t initiate it, they don’t like it,” said Colligan. “I believe there’s a part of it that’s discrimination, because how can everyone have the same voice?”

If the plan finally wins approval, the DOT will pay for its design and onstruction. Funding its maintenance, however, would be up to the Korean American Association and any private support it can raise. While Moon laments that opponents “just don’t want any changes” to the streetscape, he remains optimistic that “the more people that get involved, the more we can improve the area and make this a better place.”

As a start, perhaps, the DOT has said it will create nine new parking spaces nearby.

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